


Each Time You Fall In Love

by SummerhillWinterfield



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Flashbacks, Future Fic, M/M, Slow Burn, sleepybois
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:34:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28189260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummerhillWinterfield/pseuds/SummerhillWinterfield
Summary: AU - George is part of the Sleepy Bois and does not talk to Dream, vice versa, until both their circles of influence begin to collide, causing them to need to learn to get along
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 129





	1. It isn't real

**Author's Note:**

> bide with me: this is my first fic and im honestly testing the waters. let me know if you have any advice or something, it's very appreciated! 
> 
> note that this is a dnf fic and while there will be no explicit-ness, there is some hardcore shipping from my part.
> 
> of course, if dream or anyone in this fanfiction ever shows their dissent for being written about, i will remove them from the story or delete it if its necessary :)
> 
> also title and chapter titles are from Cigarettes after Sex songs, this has no relation to the story but i still think theyre cool

“Anyways, i think now's about time to end the stream. Thank you all for coming on today and remember to Twitch Prime! Its free, and not many people know they have one! I’ll see you all later, byeee-” George cuts himself off by ending the stream. Sighing, he opens his discord to disconnect from the now empty voice chat he shared with Wilbur and Tommy barely an hour earlier. They’d been practicing for the next MCC together while each streamed, practicing the parkour (which none of them really excelled at) and a few other minigames (which none excelled at either). In all honesty they were bad at pretty much all of MCC, but that was the fun for them. 

Hesitantly George looks at his video schedule, dreading the hour long footage he has to cut down for his newest video with Wilbur and Techno. “Minecraft But We’re Stuck in the End…” might be the least effort he’d ever put into coding, only having to make a wood and stone source in the end, but the video itself is full of laughs and fails, as his normally are. His “Minecraft But…” series is currently one of the most popular Youtube, each of his videos hitting trending within an hour of their release. George codes challenges for his friends and him to try to survive or complete the game. While these videos are incredibly fun to film, he always knows the killer editing he’ll have to put in to allow his youtube audience to actually enjoy it. “Welp, here goes” he licks his lips and shifts, ready to invest the rest of his evening on this next video.

The Sleepy Bois are a mini mcyt group composed of George, also known as Georgenotfound, Technoblade, Wilbur Soot, Tubbo, Philza and TommyInnit. They had formed several years ago when they were all young streamers with empty bank accounts and even emptier view counts. Tommy and Wilbur had somehow collided on a small Minecraft server and hit it off, meeting Technoblade and Philza later on as Tommy introduced Tubbo, an in person friend, to the server. George was the last to join the group but felt immediately accepted by their boisterous energy and lively banter. The group made minecraft servers together, played around with passing trends, and generally stuck to each other for content and entertainment. Together their Twitch channels had grown, allowing George to move onto Youtube, where he found a more stable platform on which he could showcase his love of coding through the canvas of his “Minecraft But…” series. He’d become the second largest minecraft youtuber in a short period of time, just under the infamous but faceless Dream. 

Dream is by far the largest minecraft streamer and has his own group of streaming buddies. BadBoyHalo, Sapnap and KarlJacobs were the hunters in his breakout series “Minecraft Manhunt”, where Dream would attempt to speedrun the game without being killed by hunters who could die an infinite amount of times. Dream’s raw skill at minecraft and his clever intuition would give way to heart pumping videos that would leave viewers on the edge of their seats, wondering how he’d rebuke his chasers this time. 

George is repeatedly asked by viewers to record or stream with Dream, but everytime he turns them down. 

Dream does the same.

End of story.

“Yeah but, imagine if you had to beat the game while listening to really loud metal music? Or stuff in your inventory would randomly disappear?” Tommy rambles, more focused on his laborious task of trashing Wilbur’s minecraft house then helping George think of content ideas. 

“...This is why no one lets you come up with our videos, child” Techno interjects.

“Not like you’re that good of a help either, porkchop. In the last hour the cleverest thing you could come up with was ‘what if the wither had four heads’” George sighs, already exasperated with his blank paper he was supposed to be covering with ideas.

“Hmf, not my fault you don’t know a good thing when you see it,” Techno mutters, his mind similarly distracted by his intense potato farming on the Minecraft Earth SMP.

“What type of friendship is this? You are not prioritizing me, imbeciles. I might as well be fast asleep with all the good your ideas have gotten,” George grumbles, no ire in his tone. They all know he’s not serious as he enters the server and immediately screeches, “Who took my leather helmet!”

“Psh, that old thing?” Techno snickers, “It was holding you back, you know we all have diamond now besides you. Let the helmet go and actually do something on this server besides running around and killing my cows.”

“That was a one time thing, idiot, I needed the leather for my-”

“Hat, so technically I had the right to take it from you.”

“You did WHAT-”

“Woah there, guys, lets keep my stream headphone user friendly,” Wilbur calmly interjects, having returned from the bathroom. “And Tommy, get the fuck out of my castle or this will be the end of your days.”

“You know I’m a minor, right Will, I could very well get you-”

“Like I’m afraid of you, devil child. Now scram.”

George snorts and logs out of the server. “Sorry stream, I have to go. Fuck you Techno!”

“Words like that won’t get you your ugly hat back, brit,” Techno replies monotonously.

With a growl George disconnects from the call. The blank silence which greets him as he removes his headphones and yawns feels large and empty after the joy and humor he'd shared with his friends. He debates going to sleep, seeing as it is 12 am in London, but ends up going to check his merch discord for anything, anything he could turn into a half assed youtube video. His inspiration in the past few months has seemingly fallen flat, he worries that he may begin to go through burnout soon with his lack of ideas for content. He sighs and opens his discord server, skimming over the various conversations in each tab. 

Most of them are centered around the new manhunt video that had released barely an hour previously. George rolls his eyes, already knowing he won’t watch it. Clay-Dream’s voice always makes him remember things, talks he’d rather forget, memories he long regrets. Ugh, why does he still think of that name, too? He was always Dream, always Dream to George.

He closes out of his desktop and shuts it down, a sour taste in his mouth. Cat is nowhere to be found and George feels a bit alone, standing at his desk and looking around his room. He’s lived alone ever since he moved out of his dad's place, never feeling the need for a roommate. It's quiet nights like this, however, where it’s too early to sleep but too boring to be awake, where he regrets choosing such a quiet apartment in the outskirts of London. But he doesn’t need anyone. He’s fine, really. 

A quiet voice brushes the back of his mind, murmuring what he knows is the truth but pushes away for his own benefit.  _ Do you still remember Clay? _


	2. It's clearly not enough

The feud between the youtubers Dream and Technoblade was as fabricated as their animosity towards each other. In reality they were good friends and merely enjoyed the competition they (and the fans) would have about the smallest things, like Hypixel minigames or minecraft duels. Dream and Techno would talk in private as well as public, and grew to be good friends as both their channels rose due to the increasing interest in minecraft content.

The Mr Beast duel was hyped up to be a big deal from all sides of the spectrum. Technoblade was undefeated in any sort of professional 1v1, and Dream was the raising star who might possibly be clever enough to kill him. With the extra incentive from the $100,000 Mr Beast offered, both parties were very much looking forward to the day. 

“You got this Techno! Show em who’s boss!” Tommy cheers. The Sleepy Bois had wanted to do a hype discord call to wish Techno the best because they knew how much it would mean to him if he won. It was an hour until the match.

“You’ve read your Art of War book, right?” Wilbur adds. “You know, when you totally fail, could still be great content to mention it.”

“Wow, thank you Wilbur, never felt more encouraged,” Techno deadpans while logging into the server. “Okay, I think I should start streaming, get everyone in for the big event.”

“Woo go Techno!” Tubbo and Phil yell as Techno disconnects from the call, and gradually all but Wilbur and George leave to join the streams of the event. 

“You doing well, George?” Wilbur softly asks the quiet man, “You didn’t say much on the call. Is something wrong?”

George makes a face, unwilling to reveal his cause for silence. “I don’t know, probably a lack of sleep, I don’t think I’m feeling well.”

“So this has nothing to do with the fact you drop out of every conversation related to Dream, right? And that you can never be in a voice chat, or a stream with him?”

“Uhh no…” George trails off, wincing. He hates that he can be this transparent. “Well actually sort of, you know we were friends… It’s just some bad blood is all.”

Wilbur sighs, “You know you can tell me what bothers you, right? You don’t have to be alone in it.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m aware,” George hovers over the disconnect button, wishing this conversation had never started. Maybe if he just left, Wilbur would forget?

“I’ll leave you then, the duel starts in 10. Don’t forget to join!” Wilbur chuckles, though George knows it’s with worry. He decides to put it out of his mind and closes discord, knowing he really won’t join.

He sits silently, debating whether to open youtube or twitter. Both would be flooded with events from the duel, but he decides on the latter, opting that random opinions are better than actual clips. As he expects, he’s flooded with tweets and posts about the event. 

**Dreamisbae** @kslawefinief - 1h

OMFG the duel is almost startingggg ahhh dream better carry istg make sure u watch!

12 comments 3 retweets 53 likes

**uwuWilby** @mcytsimp24 - 20m

techno carryyy u show that green blob!!!!

34 comments 12 retweets 121 likes

**Dream** @Dream - 4h

Make sure to hop on my stream @3 pm EST! Techno won’t know what hit him.

11.3k comments 6.2k retweets 300k likes

“Well that was quite the first match, huh-” a voice suddenly blares out of his computer, startling George. To his horror he recognises that voice, that voice that he wished never to hear again.

“Techno did really well chat, but that was 1.8 pvp! I’m honestly better at 1.16, so I’ll have the advantage next round…” Dream’s voice doesn’t stop and George sits paralysed, staring at the clip.  _ Do you remember? _

.,.

It was the fall of ‘11 and George was 16, driven by nothing but monster drinks and coding. He coded during his classes, during his mealtimes, and after dark when there was nothing awake to distract him from the peace of creating a new program. He loved the reward of plugging in hours worth of work to see it pay off in the form of a new server. Who cared that he had few friends at school, or that his parents' marriage seemed to slowly sever as the years went on? All he needed was his worn down Dell laptop, which he’d spend hours and hours on everyday for the simple turnout of a new minecraft plugin.

He became a moderator on MCPVP, a friendly new minecraft server with a good community and fun minigames/worlds. For fun he’d stream on his off hours from coding, gathering a small audience that couldn’t pay him but could full the tight void everyday life would leave him with. While being ignored in real life was difficult he could simply escape to his own virtual reality where his chat was his friends and his coding was his school, and nothing mattered but those two things. 

He met Clay around October while messing with some of the MCPVP players on stream. His view count was steadily increasing, but by very little, maybe a few more followers per month. This could mainly be attributed to a mini viral video of him screaming at a hunger games match which George absolutely despised, so he liked to think otherwise. 

Clay was called by the players in hopes of stopping the mini abuse of power George held while spawning charged creepers and randomly striking lightning, but he turned on his summoners and helped George, spawning random water and turning their pets upside down. They continued until an admin by the name of BadBoyHalo stepped in, but the damage had been done. Clay and George exchanged contact information, and a new friendship blossomed from the griefing. 

After finding out that they both streamed they began to call and record together, having a delightful banter that kept both their audiences growing and allowed them both to be partnered on Twitch so they could make money. 

George never understood why Clay never did facecam or showed his face. He himself commonly did, not feeling self conscious at all, and he knew Clay wasn’t as well for all the flirty quips he’d have about his visage. 

“Be glad I never show my face, Georgie, it would only be worse for your enormous crush on me,” “I’d show my face but I don’t want to stun you all too hard,” “If I ever face reveal Georgie would have to immediately propose to me, got that? Clip it!”

George, however, did know how Clay looked in person. His christmas gift that year was a facetime call at 2 am from Dream himself, looking to all the world as pretty as a promise. George would always regret not screenshotting his bashful face as he prepared for christmas dinner with his family, blonde hair in disarray and green eyes full and clear. In hindsight, he thinks that’s when he noticed he’d begun to fall for Clay, on a chilly winter’s morning when the only dream he would have was across the big blue sea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm quite pleased with this chapter! let me know if there's anything wrong, im taking some creative liberties with the events but otherwise... yeah
> 
> i'm not sure how often i'll post because writing this chapter took me like, 3 hours, but just know i'm feeling super inspired with it right now :))
> 
> i'll often go back to edit a chapter later on, but i'll never change any important content, just grammer and flow stuff
> 
> thanks for reading!!


	3. Truely

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> psa i looked it up, george and dream's old usernames were ItemStack and DeltaNinja respectively, so thats why they're called that further along in the chapter

**Willllby** today at 4:04 pm

Server ip: dream.iscool

Join join join we’re rubbing his massive L in his face

**Tubbo** today at 4:10 pm

georgeee pleaseeee we really miss you…

are you shy? is that it?? i am too!

**Willllby** today at 4:15 pm

Istg if you don’t join now I’ll show Techno’s stream pictures from your 14th birthday

**Gogy** today at 4:16 pm

…

fine.

that won’t be necessary, i guess. ill join in a min

**Willllby** today at 4:17 pm

:D Love you gogy!

George rolls his eyes, glaring at Wilbur’s avatar on his computer screen. He lets himself debate one last time whether he will actually join, but gives in, knowing that Wilbur would almost certainly follow through with his threat. He has no recollection of ever giving him access to any childhood photos of his, but Wilbur somehow had infinite blackmail over George in the form of numerous pictures of him in his adolescence. 

He types the code into his Minecraft and watches the world load up, a headache beginning to form in his temples. He is greeted by a dense spruce forest, and a crouching Techno avatar carrying an enchanted diamond sword.

<Georgenotfound was slain by Technoblade using “join the vc loser”>

<Georgenotfound was slain by Technoblade using “join the vc loser”>

<Georgenotfound: STOP NOW>

<Georgenotfound was slain by Technoblade using “join the vc loser”>

“Fine, fine,” George mutters to himself, switching to their discord voice chat.

“-and you hit ’em with the ol’ one two thr-” Tommy’s voice makes him jump.

“Well well well, thank you for joinin us today, George,” Techno deadpans, letting George live as he respawns for the sixth time.

“Great, now delete that sword, Techno, I only let you have it for the meme,” and there he is in all his glory, Dream’s voice cutting through his headphones and making his blood run cold. “We wanna play legitimately here, find your own diamonds!”

“Legit like how you went into creative after you ran into lava five minutes after entering the new nether?” 

“....No,” Dream’s wheeze has not changed, George notes.

“What am I here for, Wilbur,” He sighs, choosing not to comment on their earlier conversations. The call goes quiet.

“Uh, Wilbur’s not here anymore? He left, like, 20 minutes ago,” Dream fills in the silence.

George rolls his eyes, feeling like he should have seen this coming, “Well in that case, I might as well just join him, I’m quite busy-”

“Nooo George, stay! Let us show you a tour, at least,” Dream whines, his character appearing on George’s screen, ugly and colored bright piss.

“How about… no,” George snaps back. The ire in his tone is ignored.

“First, over here, we have the main hub house. It’s got an aquarium at the top, and fishies, and-” 

“George George visit my house! I made it out of a hill!” Tommy shouts, running up behind him. He is ignored.

“Dream, it’s covered in holes, and that brick looks horrible,” George mocks, nose wrinkling. Dream wheezes.

“No it - it adds to the charm! Come in, I’ll make you iron armor.” He sounds slightly hopeful. 

“How about… no,” George says again, but this time with a smile in his tone. 

“Oh, come on now, you know you want to,” Techno finally interjects, reminding George of his presence.

“No means no, Techno,” He grins.

“...would you please reconsider?” a vaguely familiar new voice adds.

Dream’s wheeze comes back full force as he fully  _ laughs _ , “Will you have sex with me?  _ No _ . Would you please reconsider?” The rest of the call erupts in giggles as the new guy, who George can now place as Sapnap, chuckles guiltily.

“Fine, fine I’ll go! You owe me for this,” why is this fun? Why is he enjoying speaking to his sworn enemy?

“You… I… owe me?!” Dream is laughing so hard that his voice barely works. “But I’m… but you…”

“Yes.”

It was all over twitter. The stream, their chemistry, the SMP, everything. George’s following had increased by almost half as Dreams viewers transferred over to him, and vice versa. The reception for their collaboration was extremely positive and he knew what it ment. What it would lead to.

“They loved you guys!” Wilbur’s grin was almost blinding.

George blushes, “Yeah, yeah, we talked about it after though, and said it would be better for stuff like that to not happen again.”

Wilbur tilts his head slightly, making eye contact with him through their facetime, “Why not? You both seemed to enjoy it.”

He sighs, “Long and complicated explanation.”

“Then give it to me.”

“No.”

“George!” Wilbur shouts with half laughter, half exasperation.

“Fine, fine,” he caves unwillingly, looking away from his friend. “He and I knew each other when we were kids, and it didn’t really end well I guess. I haven’t spoken to him since, nor have I wanted to.”

“But you were just kids, and it seems like you guys could really get along if you put it past you,” his calm, reassuring voice is infuriating.

“Still! It really impacted me, and I don’t want to forgive him.”

“Yet?”

“At all.”

Wilbur catches his gaze again, giving his sincere look, “Look, George, out of anyone in the world I know how stubborn you can be, and I won’t push you to be his friend if you’re that opposed. Please, however, be friendly with him? I have a feeling our groups will be a lot more interactive in the future, so could it be that difficult to remain civil with each other?”

“Geez, Will, this isn’t fucking therapy,” George mutters, but he knows he’s lost. “Fine! Fine, I’ll play along. Just don’t… push me?” He isn’t sure if he knows what he means by that, but Wilbur nods.

“It's your choice in the end, Gogy,” He smiles teasingly

“Oh, fuck you.”

.,.

“Welcome back to my youtube video on me and my friend’s personal minecraft server, today we’re going to finally defeat the ender dragon! This is a super new update and we’re both so excited to finally kill it!” Clay began the intro with a cheery voice, albeit slightly forced-sounding.

“We streamed all of this live on Twitch, so feel free to watch us in real time if you wish!” George added while turning to punch Clay’s character. 

“Wow, really couldn’t help the plug, huh Georgie?” Clay smirked, gladly returning the light attacks.

“Wait, stop, stop! You’re actually hurting me…” George yelped, attempting to flee from the new ferocious swings from Clay’s enchanted diamond sword.

“Fine, fine, whatever,” He smirked, still not putting away the weapon. George slowed.

<ItemStack was slain by DeltaNinja using “EpicDestroyer”>

“WHY DID YOU-” George shrieked, watching as his inventory exploded on the green dirt. Clays laugh echoed in his ear as he howled, triumphantly running around to gather his items.

“Stop, stop! I need that for the fight!” He whined, respawning in his room at their house. He shifted sadly, slowly moving to the corner as he fake cried.

“Oh, come on now, don’t mope,” Clay ran to his character and immediately returned the armor and tools he’d lost. “I’m ever so sorry, Georgie, I hope you find it in your heart to-”

George started swinging, and in four hits reduced his friend to a pile of trash and xp.

“Oh, you-” Clay laughed, immediately respawning to regain his supplies.

The dragon’s corpse rose up into the sky and both the boys watched, transfixed. Experience fell from the sky like rain and they began to sprint around, gathering as much as they could

“Dude, I’m at like 60 levels!” Clay gasped, watching as the bedrock transformed into portal.

“You did so well! I barely got like, three hits on him!” George returned his enthusiasm.

Clay grinned, “Ha, thanks, that was super fun. I kind of want to do it again…”

“I mean, I saw this thing on twitter…” George hesitated, not wanting to sound dumb. “They said that hypothetically, if this is the end of minecraft, you can try to complete it quickly? Like a speedrun of sorts.”

“Like that mario thing?” Clay asks, confused. “It does sound interesting though, maybe I’ll try that sometime.”

After gathering the dragon egg and taking one last look at the new dimension, the boys jumped through the portal and began the end credits, roleplaying as the voices and laughing the whole while through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took so long to post! i'll be more consistant in the future, especially when school forces me to have an actual schedule :3 
> 
> hope you enjoyed this! let me know if theres anything i got wrong somewhere, comments/critiques
> 
> thank you for reading!


	4. Do the right thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> notes: i'm taking creative liberties as to when certain events happened, for example the SMP was created in late January/early February 2020
> 
> if the timing of events is confusing at all, let me know and i can clarify/edit to fix it

Clay was born with a congenital heart defect. He’d recall as a child, being taken out of school for weeks on end as his doctors would repeatedly cut him open and stitch him closed, leaving him with scars down his front and an almost constant ache. After one too many taunts at the playground or in the classroom, he grew self conscious about his appearance, opting out of social events for most of his childhood. He would remain quiet about how he spent his elementary days, choosing to tell George little next to nothing about his prepubescent self. 

He’d instead recount his ascent into (minimal) internet glory after meeting his best friend, Nick, and starting a small Youtube channel/profile. George had never really met him, but from what he’d heard he knew how positive of an influence Nick was on his friend. Clay loved middle and high school, flourishing after joining a few school-sponsored sports teams and escaping his social bubble.

George could be described as the direct opposite.

The two preferred not to share too much of their personal lives with each other, having grown up hearing about internet precautions, but every once in a while when they called, they ended up chatting far past both their sleeping hours. They discussed nothing and everything, finding they agreed more often than not, and kept the rest as a secret. George never felt the need to discuss his parents with Clay, and who knew what the sandy haired boy was keeping from him.

It was the winter of ‘16. The horrible year of fidget spinners and slime was finally coming to a close, and George had just turned 21. His parents had long since separated, and he’d barely managed to move out before their petty arguments had snowballed into an avalanche of screaming and slight violence. He visited both once or twice a year, but mostly kept to himself in his small, lonely apartment, taking online classes and canceling plans from fake high school friends. Oh, and he still had Clay.

He and Clay had only gotten closer after his parents divorce. He’d told him after one particularly nasty night in which no one got any sleep and George had been forced to leave the house for a few days to go to his grandma’s. Clay’s tone had been sympathetic and questioning as to the recent curious hours of their calls, and George had finally come clean about his family in a flurry of tears and hiccups.

Clay’s personal life was still a close kept secret, one that George figured he shouldn’t prod. Whenever he was free to play or stream, that’s what they’d do, no questions asked. This is one of the reasons why it came as such a surprise when Clay told him he might be dying.

It was sort of an accident how he’d found out. They’d been playing bedwars late one Saturday when Clay had picked up a call from his mother and forgotten to mute, allowing George to hear the entire exchange. 

“Clay, honey, can you please update us a bit more on your visits? I worry about you when you don’t call or text and I just… you would tell us if something went wrong right?” His mother’s voice spilled from the phone, concern evident in her tone.

“It’s all going great! There's really nothing to update you on, I have a scan today but it’ll probably come out negative,” Clay sounded more annoyed than reassuring.

“Honey, you know they said this could be fatal. Maybe you should come back home, see your old doctor-”

“No! No, I just moved out and Dr. Robin has been more transparent about the situation in the past 4 months then Dr. Kennedy in the past 17! I’m taking this as seriously as I should be, Mom, just stop worrying!” The volume and anger in his voice had never been shown to George, and he felt slightly afraid as he heard Clay let out a loud breath of air while hanging up. They were both silent.

“Did you hear all of that?” His voice sounded timid, in stark contrast to how it had been a few seconds ago.

“I did,” George confirmed, letting the younger boy process what had happened.

“I didn’t want you to know all of that…” He huffed, not continuing to elaborate.

George waited before responding, heartbeat thundering. “I won’t ask you to explain or anything, I mean if you want to-”

“Stop! Just, stop,” Clay snapped, his aggravation freezing the air of their call. “You can’t just… treat me differently or some shit! It’s just a temporary thing, it’ll be over with by April…”

“Are you dying, then?” He finally pushed, confusion overshadowing his fragile intent to be polite.

“Just a little bit,” Clay acknowledged, shifting in his seat. The game in front of them remained paused, forgotten, as both tried to map their way through the difficult conversation.

“Can I visit, then?” He felt like his heart was on the line as he said it, shuddering slightly and closing his eyes. “I was going to ask anyways, I guess… and I guess now isn’t perfect to ask but-”

“-Yeah,” he can hear the surprise in Clay’s voice, as well as the slight burst of giddyness. “Of course.”

.,.

“Sorry, stream, I’m not joining their VC right now, they’re planning some government thing and I really couldn’t care less, to be honest,” George lets out, teeth gritted in annoyance. 

He shifts through his inventory, searching for the slabs and opting to ignore his viewers for the time being. The text box begins to flood with death messages and he stops momentarily, warily interested in whomever could be causing such a mass genocide.

<TommyInnit was slain by Dream using “Nightmare”>

<The_Eret was slain by WilburSoot using “Revolutionary”>

<Tubbo was slain by Dream using “Nightmare”>

<WilburSoot was slain by Sapnap using “Hey Mamas”>

George lets out a sigh, knowing full well what he will find being spammed into his feed if he turns to look. 

He does.

**LovelyLiss** gogy plsss pls go c dream!!!

**AaronNotFound** VC VC VC VC VC VC VC VC

**Fundysafurry69** join voice chat george!

**Hanabana** JOIN CHAT PLEASEEEEEEE

Thank god I didn’t do face cam, he thinks, rolling his eyes and stretching in his chair. Realistically he knows that his viewers will surely catch on to something soon, the way his voice steels slightly when Dream made a dumb joke or even entered his frame of vision. For now, though, as he builds his mushroom cottage house (that he came up with entirely on his own, thank you very much), he feels at peace.

“George!” ….nevermind. “Dream just took my disks!” Tommy’s almost yelling in his ear, his voice cracking with fury. “And he killed us all and ended our country and-”

“Gogy help us! Please….” Wilbur’s voice enters the flurry of complaints streaming through George’s ears.

“Wha- Excuse me! You can’t just join my call and berate me with your own mistakes!” George stammers, taking his hands off his keyboard to wring them angrily.

“Eret betrayed us and Sapnap and Dream killed us and our country is ruined-” Tubbo wails.

“No, no wait I’ll explain,” Wilbur interrupts. “So, we went to war-”

“To  _ war _ -”

“-With Dream and Sapnap because of our potion business, right?”

“I-”

“And we have the upper hand, until Eret invites us to some final control room and then the three ambush us!” Wilbur finishes with a flourish, and in the game George sees small name tags growing in the distance, through his perfect, untouched spruce trees in his forest.

“Is that you who’s coming?” 

“Where,” all three say together.

< _ Dream whispers to you: Join VC 1 _ >

“...Oh shit, he messaged me,” George sighs, knowing he must oblige to this one request. His character does a small circle, looking around at his unfinished house in sorrow. The walls are still a classic mix between dirt and stone, his floors are a patchwork of wood and granite, the windows-

< _ WilburSoot whispers to you: join their vc dumbass _ >

< _ you whisper to WilburSoot: fine! fine> _

He clicks to his discord window, ignoring the confused sounds of his friends from his call. The chime sounds, confirming he’s entered the channel.

He forces a smile, already knowing it’ll fall flat, “Hello.”

“George, we have a proposition,” Sapnap booms, skipping the pleasantries. His voice has always been unfamiliar to George, having never really gotten to know the younger man. The two were always on the cusp of meeting, about to speak before Clay- no, Dream had left the call or game. He’d always been curious over their friendship that had only seemed to grow as theirs decayed.

George hears Dream clear his throat, shaking him from his thoughts, “Do you accept?”

“Huh,” He could almost hear his chat roasting him through his monitor.

Both men laugh. “Do you want to join us in an alliance against L’Manburg?” Sapnap’s shit eating grin can be heard through his headphones.

“Tommy, Tubbo, Wilbur and Fundy,” Dream whispers at George’s confused silence.

“Uh,” He’s still confused, “Why the hell would I do that?” The call goes silent, and for a fear inducing second he expects Dream to say ‘ _ for old time’s sake’ _ . Teenage Dream certainly would have.

“Because we have more subscribers then all of them combined,” Sapnap replies cheekily, forcing a surprised snort out of him.

“Ugh, I can’t believe that made me laugh,” George mutters, rolling his eyes. He knows they can tell he’s smiling. “Anyways, I still have more viewers than the both of you, so it's not like I need your clout.”

“Oh yeah? At least our viewers are above the age of 10,” Sapnap retorts.

“At least my viewers don’t fall asleep when I start my streams!” He fires back, and all three of them burst into laughter.

“I don’t need you guys. In fact, I’ll declare war on L’Manburg myself!” George shouts, extremely riled up.

“You realize that L’Manburg is Tommy, Tubbo and-”

“Fine fine fine! No, how about I be the king of the SMP, and banish you guys forever, huh?” George tries to back down from his slight embarrassment.

“You could, except for the fact that Eret’s already the king,” Dream speaks up for the first time in a while. If George listened more closely he could hear the slight hesitancy in his words, but the adrenaline from their banter caused him to miss it.

“Then I’ll declare war on him!”

“That's not how it works, George-”

He switches VC, blood pumping. In the game, he sees the nametags from earlier grow smaller as the duo leave his peaceful abode, and he’s grateful they never actually arrived to see it.

A ping sounds from his discord, signaling that someone has joined. 

“Did you join them…” Tubbo sounds small. George knows this is fake, knows that they’re just messing around for the stream with this silly war and silly storyline, but can’t help but feel a surge of protectiveness towards the boy.

“Of course not. Here, come to these coords and let’s build a megabase that no one, especially Dream, can get into,” George quickly messages him and mutes, turning to his stream chat. 

“Hey guys, sorry I couldn’t talk to you for a bit while I was dealing with whatever,” he gestures wildly, aware that no one can see him, “that was. Today was a crazy stream, and of course support everyone and anyone who showed up tonight. I think I’ll end it here, though, but I’ll raid Tubbo and see you all later! Of course I’ll catch up with donos, look at all the DMs, all of that off stream. Until next time, everyone, bye!” He holds out the last syllable as he turns off the broadcast and slumps down into his seat, suddenly exhausted. 

Opting to remain on the server but off of the calls, he idly watches the hours go by as the conversations through the game carry on and the rivalry grows. Too deep in thought to really care, he can’t help but be drawn to thinking about how familiar that call had seemed, how refreshing that banter was. He had always felt slightly held back with his own friends, several close calls with the “too far” line and fast apologies if he ever crossed it. Sapnap was so… spirited. Real. Exciting. It’s all too reminiscent of when he was younger, making online friends who he’d grief with and play with after the drought of social interaction he’d find himself surrounded with at school. He’s forgotten the simple joy of pushing someone to the brim of anger and then being able to laugh it off, like-

Like how it had been with Clay.

Weeks go by, and the SMP only grows as new streamers are added and audiences are shared. It comes as no surprise to anyone that on the one month anniversary of the server, a meetup is announced for March 13th, in South Carolina, USA.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :) cliffhangers are fun to write
> 
> also, next chapter is starting right where this one ends so be warned (as in, I wanted to make this one longer but also wanted to post sometime within the next month)


End file.
